Apr 2 Justin Fairfax Accusers Speak, He Responds

Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson, two women who accused Lt. GovernorJustin Fairfax of sexual assault, gave their first interview to CBS News’ Gayle King. Watson says that roughly 48 hours after she met Fairfax at 2004 DNC convention in Boston, Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him in a hotel room at the 2004 DNC convention in Boston. She went into detail with King. “It-- it-- it-- it-- it was like I couldn't -- I couldn't feel my neck. I couldn't hold my head up," Tyson said. “And then the next thing I know, like, my head is, like, literally in his crotch ... And I'm choking and gagging. And, you know, I couldn't say anything 'cause I'm choking and gagging. And so, you know, it continues for -- and he's holding my head. So I can't lift -- like, I'm trying to lift my head, but I can't." King interviewed Fairfax’s second accuser this morning. Meredith Watson came forward shortly after Tyson made her accusations in February. She said Fairfax raped her in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University. Watson said the two were close friends until the night she says he sexually assaulted her. The incident reportedly happened on a couch in Fairfax’s place, and she tried several times to get up but he held her down. “It was a huge betrayal. He was my friend. I don’t understand how you do that to somebody who you've been a friend to and who’s confided in you,” Watson said. Before the alleged incident, she said she told Fairfax she had been raped the year prior by Duke basketball player Corey Maggette, a former NBA player. Watson says she saw Fairfax later and asked him why he did that to her, and Fairfax replied, “I knew because of what happened to you last year that if I got you in the right situation that you would be too afraid to say or do anything about it.” Fairfax adamantly denies both accusations, saying he stands accused of crimes that he did not commit. “I feel so strongly regarding my innocence that I submitted myself to polygraph tests for each of the accusations against me,” he stated. “I passed those tests because, as I have maintained from the very beginning, I did not assault either of my accusers.” Neither accuser has filed criminal charges or filed suit. “Instead, we see escalating media appearances and stated desire for a political process that is unprecedented in Virginia and could not be designed to get at the truth,” Fairfax continued. “Such a process would instead be a media circus used for partisan and political purposes.” The Virginia General Assembly will meet on Wednesday for the first time in more than a month, and Tyson and Watson have called for a public hearing. They want to testify under oath to describe what they allege Fairfax did to them. There’s no word on if that will happen. More here.

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